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Lessons - How to Make Better Decisions - The Clarity Razor (Scott) · Success Story with Scott Clary

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  In this lesson's episode, I'm going to teach you how to make better decisions.
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  I'm going to show you why hard choices feel impossible because you're not actually choosing
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  between two options.
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  You are fighting between what you want and what you think you should want, and there's
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  a reason why.
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  I'm going to give you two simple questions that instantly help you cut through the confusion
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  and show you the right answer in business, in life, in relationships.
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  There's a mental model we're going to talk about called the clarity razor.
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  This is the framework that helps you make decisions, that stops you from overthinking
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  every single decision you make, and helps you choose what you actually want instead
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  of what looks good to other people.
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  As an entrepreneur, you have to figure out how to make better decisions.
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  It's one of the most important things you're going to ever have to do.
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  And today, I want to talk about a framework that can help you make some better decisions,
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  called the clarity razor.
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  What does this mean?
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  The clarity razor is a mental model so that you can figure out how to decide A versus B
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  and so you don't choose the wrong thing repeatedly.
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  Because most decisions, they're not hard because the options are unclear.
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  They're hard because all of your motivations are all messed up, and you think you're choosing
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  between option A and option B and your business and your life, but what you're really choosing
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  between is what you want and what you think you should want and what others expect you
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  to want and what you're afraid to want.
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  So the best decisions come from untangling all these motivations before you choose.
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  Now I've seen this play out in my own life, I've seen it play it with entrepreneurs.
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  One of the most real examples of this playing out, which will probably resonate with a lot
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  of you, I was having a conversation with a founder who was struggling, trying to figure
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  out whether or not he should sell his company, he had a good offer on the table, but he couldn't
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  decide.
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  You know, what's making this decision so hard?
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  So he said, well, the money is good, but not life-changing, I'd lose the status of being
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  CEO, but I'm also burned out and I want to start something new.
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  Three different motivations, three different answers.
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  So that's when we started speaking about this mental model, the clarity razor, a very simple
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  framework that helps you cut through the noise of complex decisions.
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  And we're going to walk through how he should answer this decision by the end of the podcast.
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  Now let's talk about the clarity razor framework.
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  So this is what it is at its core just so you understand it.
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  When you are facing a difficult decision, ask yourself two questions.
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  What would I choose if money wasn't a factor, then ask what would I choose if status wasn't
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  a factor?
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  And the overlap is usually your answer and it sounds simple, but it's not because these
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  two filters, they reveal all these hidden forces that drive most of our decisions and business
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  and life everything.
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  Now why does your brain make decision making so hard, because your brain evolved to keep
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  you alive in small tribes where resources were scarce and the social rejection kind of
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  at death and every decision still triggers this ancient survival calculation.
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  Will this improve my resource position?
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  Will this maintain my social standing?
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  And these calculations happen faster than conscious thought and they usually conflict
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  with what we actually want.
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  And for thousands of years, these instincts kept humans alive, but in a modern world of
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  abundance and mobility, these are the same instincts that often lead to anxiety and poor
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  decisions.
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  I'll give you an example, take the Challenger disaster in 1986.
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  So NASA engineers, some of them knew that the overings would fail in cold weather.
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  They recommended a lane launch, but NASA was under pressure for funding for public support.
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  So money, pressure and status anxiety overruled the engineering judgment, seven people died.
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  See, when you optimize for money and status, there's a really good chance you get neither,
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  but the opposite is also true, which is really interesting because of the best decisions
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  that will actually lead to the outcomes that you want.
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  They usually come from people who have learned to ignore the immediate financial or social
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  pressures.
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  And this brings us to how the clarity razor actually works.
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  Remember two things, money and status.
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  Let's talk about money first.
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  So the first question, what would I choose if money wasn't a factor?
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  It eliminates resource anxiety from your decision.
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  And it's not about pretending that money doesn't matter.
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  It's about separating what you want from what you think you need for survival.
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  Most of what feels like financial necessity is actually anxiety about imagined scenarios.
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  It's not real threats.
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  I'll give you an example, Warren Buffett's investment success sort of puts this on display
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  perfectly.
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  All the other investors made decisions based on quarterly pressures and market sentiment.
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  Buffett asked a different question, what would I do if I knew the stock market would close
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  for 10 years?
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  So this removed both short term profit pressure and peer comparison from his decision making.
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  He could focus on the actual value of companies instead of their social perception or their
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  immediate returns.
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  So the money filter reveals what you would choose if survival anxiety wasn't driving the
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  decision.
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  It shows you your authentic preference and your authentic choice when resource scarcity
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  isn't creating all this false urgency.
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  Now let's talk about status.
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  So the second question, what would I choose if status wasn't a factor?
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  This eliminates all the social performance anxiety.
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  This anxiety is a little bit subtler than money anxiety, but it's way more powerful because
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  it's harder to recognize.
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  Most status anxiety is not about real social consequences.
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  It's about fear of judgment from people whose opinions don't actually matter to your life.
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  I'll give you an example.
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  Steve Jobs referring to Apple in 1997, it shows how powerful this filter can be.
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  Jobs was already successful with Pixar when he returned to Apple.
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  Starting over this failing computer company, it risks his reputation, his time, his financial
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  security, everybody thought it was career suicide.
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  But when you remove the money and the status from the equation, his choice starts to become
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  more obvious.
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  He wanted to build the products he envisioned and Apple was the best platform to do it.
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  The status filter reveals what you would choose if you weren't performing for some fake
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  imagined audience.
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  It strips away all the social theater and it shows you what actually matters to you.
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  Now, where do these two filters overlap?
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  The magic happens with the clarity razor in the overlap between your two filtered answers.
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  When you remove both all the money anxiety and the status or social anxiety, what's left
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  over is your authentic preference.
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  The choice that is aligned with your actual values, your actual interests and your actual
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  goals.
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  It could be uncomfortable because you could realize that, oh my god, this is what I actually
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  believe in.
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  And then all of a sudden, you're going to start questioning all the other decisions you
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  made.
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  But that's fine.
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  This is the first step to really understand how to make proper decisions.
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  And this is where we sort of go back to that original founder story, right?
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  The guy who wanted to sell his company.
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  Because when we apply both of those filters, it reveals something about the founder and
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  his decision making process that neither filter could show on its own.
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  So if you just applied the money filter or the status filter, let's talk about what's
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  happening, right?
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  Money filter.
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  If you guys are trying to sell his company, if money wasn't a factor, would you sell?
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  No.
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  He would say, I'd keep building.
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  The money is nice but not transformative.
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  I want to see where this company can go.
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  And then the status filter.
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  If status wasn't a factor, would you sell?
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  And he would say, probably yes.
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  I'm burned out on the CEO role and I want to start something new.
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  But I'm worried what people will think if I sell a quote unquote successful company.
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  Now the overlap between the money filter and the status filter reveal something that he
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  hadn't considered.
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  He wants to keep the company, but he wants to step back from the daily operations because
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  he's burned out.
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  So instead of a binary choice between selling or not selling, this clarity razor reveals
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  a third option, a restructure of the business.
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  The solution was to hire a CEO and for him to stay on his chairman and primary shareholder.
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  And now two years later, his company is actually worth three X, the original offer.
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  He started a new company, he's much happier.
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  So this clarity razor didn't just give him the answer.
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  He revealed what he actually wanted so we could find the creative solution to get after
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  it.
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  Now, how do we apply this to your decisions?
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  Because once you understand how these filters work, you can start to apply this framework
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  to basically any complex decision you're dealing with.
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  And I know that you all deal with many of them daily because I definitely do.
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  Anytime you're feeling stuck, you're feeling conflicted, you apply this framework, okay?
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  So for career transitions, instead of asking, should I take this job?
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  You start to ask yourself, well, what type of work would energize me if I didn't need
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  the income?
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  And then, what would I choose if nobody would know my job title?
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  And that overlap shows you what to optimize for, whether it's learning opportunities, some
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  sort of creative freedom, team culture, mission alignment, up to you to decide.
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  But apply this filter for business strategy.
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  Instead of asking, should we pursue this opportunity, start to ask, well, would this opportunity
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  align with our mission if it wasn't profitable?
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  And would we be excited about this if it got no industry recognition?
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  The overlap reveals whether you're building something meaningful or you're just chasing
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  money or external validation.
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  For personal relationships, this is a tough one, but it still applies, right?
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  So instead of asking, should, and by the way, personal relationship could be with a friend,
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  could be with a spouse, business relationship, but instead of asking, should I stay in this
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  relationship?
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  Start to ask, would I choose to be with this person if financial security wasn't a factor?
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  And also, would I choose this person if no one would know about our relationship?
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  A tough, tough question, but this overlap shows you whether you're connected by authentic
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  compatibility or external circumstances.
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  And the pattern really becomes clear across all these applications.
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  Your filtered preferences are usually more interesting, more challenging, and more satisfying
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  to you than all your unfiltered choices.
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  And like any skill, this gets easier with practice.
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  So start small, start to apply these filters to these really low stakes decisions, where
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  to eat, what to read, which project to tackle first.
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  And notice how your answers change when you remove the money and the status pressure.
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  This builds confidence in your filtering process, and it trains your brain to recognize
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  when anxiety is overriding authentic preferences.
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  And you start to apply it for bigger decisions, career moves, business strategy, major purchases,
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  relationship choices.
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  Every clear decision makes the next decision easier, because you develop what psychologists
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  call decisional confidence.
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  And basically you trust in your own judgment, and you stop second guessing yourself.
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  You stop pulling everyone else for their opinion.
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  You start trusting your filters, and this compounds over time.
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  Clear decisions, equals better outcomes, equals increased confidence, equals clearer future
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  decisions.
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  Now, why does this matter more than ever?
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  Why do they just talk to your ear off about decision making for the past 20 minutes?
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  Because right now we live in a world of infinite choices and constant comparison.
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  Social media shows you everyone else's life.
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  The internet makes every possible path visible.
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  The old rules that used to make decisions easier, for example, family expectations, where
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  you lived, limited career options, those are mostly gone.
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  And more choices, they don't make you more free, they make you more anxious.
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  And the clarity razor cuts through the noise and it helps you choose based on who you
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  actually are and what you actually value instead of what other people seem to be winning
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  at, or what other people expect of you.
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  When everyone else is optimizing for this same external scoreboard, knowing what you actually
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  want becomes your biggest advantage.
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  And while everyone else is stuck in these anxiety loops about money and status, you could
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  actually move towards what you actually want.
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  So after you listen to this podcast, next time you're going to make a decision, I want
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  you to apply this clarity razor.
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  I want you to ask yourself, what would I choose if money wasn't a factor?
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  What would I choose if status wasn't a factor?
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  And write down your answers honestly.
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  The overlap is your authentic preference.
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  And now, consider some practical constraints.
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  So what's the smallest step that you could take towards your authentic preference given
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  your current reality?
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  It doesn't mean blow up your life, please do not do that.
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  Because the clarity razor, it doesn't make decisions for you.
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  It shows you what you actually want so you can choose on purpose instead of just reacting.
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  At the end of the day, most people spend their whole lives picking between things that
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  other people think they should want.
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  And I'm telling you right now, the quality of your decisions determines the quality of
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  your life.
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  Please pick what you actually want instead.